“And you know what I said back to the American Atheists who purchased that billboard? Thank you. Thank you for helping me publicly express my strong belief that we need to continue to be one nation under God. And I think you would agree with that statement.”

A spokesman for the American Atheists, based in Cranford, New Jersey, said he was disappointed at Santorum’s reaction.

“In this country we have separation of church and state for very good reasons, said Dave Muscato. “We are not ‘one nation under god,’ but ‘one nation indivisible’.”

…

“This is also a reminder that there are strong forces against the fundamental beliefs that you and I hold so dear,” [Santorum] wrote. “They are organizing with determination to transform the very fabric of our country. The stakes are simply too high for us to sit back and ignore the progress they are making.”

Well, you can’t force a theocrat to be ashamed of his call for theocracy. That he acknowledged the billboard at all lends more credibility to the fact that the campaign is working. It’s getting under his skin. He couldn’t win a general election because of his inability to separate his religious beliefs from his political agenda and AA isn’t letting the voters forget it.

I’m still waiting to see if Sarah Palin will respond, but I think she’s smart enough (seriously) to just ignore it.